1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an ink cartridge of a jet printer, and particularly to an ink cartridge of a printer facilitating second refilling.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the conventional jet printer, the ink is loaded in a cartridge, and the ink jetted on the printing paper is controlled with a sprayer; when ink in the cartridge is used up, the cartridge has to be replaced for further printing operation; however, the ink cartridge supplied by the original manufacturer is considerably expensive, i.e., a user to print a lot of papers will spend a lot of money.
In the conventional ink cartridge of a jet printer, the ink chamber of the ink cartridge is usually loaded with an equalization air bladder or a piece of sponge for soaking and supplying ink. The ink cartridge supplied by the original manufacturer usually has an equal pressure in the ink chamber during the automatic manufacturing process, and there will be no leak during printing operation.
In the conventional ink cartridge loaded with a sponge, an empty ink cartridge can be replenished by sealing and closing the end opening of the output port by means of a glue paper; then, a center through hole on lid of the top surface of the ink cartridge is sealed with a membrane; a syringe is sucked with a suitable amount of ink. A slender hollow needle is used to stab through the membrane on the through hole, and to the most lower portion of the storage chamber so as to inject ink in the storage chamber; however, the sponge in the storage chamber contains a great amount of bubbles, and the ink injected is unable to exhaust the air therein; as a result, the ink injected in is limited. Since there is a mesh furnished between the storage chamber and the second chamber, if air in the second chamber is unable to exhaust, the ink in the storage chamber will be unable to enter the second chamber via the mesh, and the ink will be unable to flow into the spraying chamber.
When the ink cartridge on a printer fails to print continuously, the major cause is that the sprayer in the printing head is in short supply of ink, i.e., lack of sufficient ink flowing through the passage defined by the bearing member; in other words, if too much air enters the second chamber in the printing head, such air would enter the storage chamber of the sprayer to cause interruption of ink, i.e., having no ink to spray out; in the event of no ink to spray out of the sprayer for a considerable time, the sprayer might be burned out.
In the conventional ink cartridge, the second refilling operation is usually done in accordance with the second refilling tool made by ink-cartridge manufacturer; the refilling tube of such second-refilling ink container is often unable to connect with the refilling hole of the ink cartridge hermetically; as a result, there would be a leak upon refilling, and the ink is unable to fill into the second chamber above the ink outlet; finally, the ink cartridge refilled can not be re-used.
The prime feature of the present invention is that the lid of the ink cartridge is furnished with a convection hole; when the ink cartridge is refilled at the first time, a vacuum tube will be plugged therein so as to refill the ink cartridge by means of a vacuum convection method; after ink in the ink cartridge is used up by the printer, the convection hole can facilitate the second-refilling ink container to connect therein hermetically so as to proceed a second refilling to the ink cartridge.
Another feature of the present invention is that he lid of the ink cartridge is furnished with a convection hole, which has a cylindrical surface to be connected hermetically with the refilling tube of a second-refilling ink container; the lower part of the cylindrical surface has a stop shoulder and a ventilation hole in the center thereof. The ventilation hole is used for balancing the absorbing force of the ink sponge, and balancing the air convention upon the ink being consumed by the printer.
Still another feature of the present invention is that the convection hole in the lid of the ink cartridge is substantially a recess hole under the surface of the lid, and the top surface thereof is on the same level of the lid surface.
A further feature of the present invention is that the convection hole in the lid of the ink cartridge has a short projected part, of which the stem portion has a cylindrical surface to be connected with an ink container for second refilling.
A still further feature of the present invention is that the rectangular opening of body of the ink cartridge is mounted with a lid by means of a melting method; the upper part of the ink-storing chamber is furnished with a refilling hole, which will be closed with a seal plug after the first refilling; a spot of the lid above a chamber loaded with ink sponge is furnished with a convection hole, which includes a cylindrical surface to be connected with a refilling tube of a second-refilling ink container, and a ventilation hole for air convection on the bottom thereof so as to facilitate the connection with the refilling tube of a second-refilling ink container to proceed a second refilling.